I had a few categories of canned goods in the storeroom that were getting close to half gone, so did some shopping to start filling the gaps.

Had used up a quart jar of dehydrated peppers & onions, so also purchased 4 more bags of frozen sweet peppers to dehydrate.

Not to corner you Jenn ,have you compared the cost of purchase and drying to the cost of commercially canned and dried vegetables ? I am curious of the savings beyond maybe quality and knowing that you accomplished the job. I wonder of the storage life differences ,if any...maybe I should look for any threads on this subject...

Health : Finally started the new Lyme disease protocol of a bunch of herbs/supplements, etc, on the 2nd day... not 100% yet, but about 80% of the stuff for 2 out of 3 times a day is a decent start. I even ate the gellatin, but I need better ideas of how to get this down, for these 2 days I made extra thick jello blocks with xylital and fresh meyer lemon juice to flavor

Not to corner you Jenn ,have you compared the cost of purchase and drying to the cost of commercially canned and dried vegetables ? I am curious of the savings beyond maybe quality and knowing that you accomplished the job. I wonder of the storage life differences ,if any...maybe I should look for any threads on this subject...

I'll admit to not having ever really researched that Carl. For me it's mostly a matter of storage space (dehydrated takes up far less space then canned, root cellared or frozen). Also, most of the things I dehydrate I really don't see for sale anywhere. Freeze dried, yes (and with a nice hefty price tag to go with it) dehydrated, not so much.

So let's take the veggies. Usually I wait until frozen veggies are on sale for $1 a bag or something like that. Then I toss them in my excalibur, one bag per tray, and turn it on. Leave it overnight and in the morning I toss them into mason jars and use my food saver to remove the oxegyn.

First thing, that's a HECK of a lot less hands on time then canning or even freezing fresh vegetables (that I would have to blanch and package myself). It's also less energy consumption than running the stove long enough to pressure can the vegetables, or to run a freezer to keep them cold.

Second thing I can store it anywhere (I keep the stuff I'm going through upstairs in my pull out pantry, larger jars for long term storage are in a dark cupboard in the basement.) Even thought I have 2 full size freezers and 2 refrigerator/freezer combos I am always preciously guarding my freezer space. Currently it's full of the 1/4 steer we purchased, about 1/2 of a pig left and 3 deer or so (all butchered and wrapped but you get the idea) and then things like butter, some frozen vegetables and cheese.

Third it's inexpensive. So let's say depending on the vegetable (some dehydrate down smaller than others) I get 4 bags of the grilled frozen peppers I was talking about into a quart jar (plus a bit leftover, maybe half a pint) for a cost of between $4-$8 dollars. That's pretty cheap, and they last for a long time. According to USA Emergency Supply: "Dehydrated vegetables store well if hermetically sealed in the absence of oxygen. Plan on a storage life of 8-10 years at a stable temperature of 70 degrees F. They should keep proportionately longer if stored at cooler temperatures." Now that I'm on the USA Emergency site, I see they do sell mixed red & green peppers, dehydrated, in a #2.5 can for $7.67 (plus shipping). That's 2 1/2 cups according to the can size converter I looked up. A quart jar takes 4 cups, plus I had about another cup. So for roughly the same price, I made myself 5 cups, or twice as much dehydrated pepper. With shipping costs the savings would be even better.

Fourth it's convenient. I just like having dehydrated mixed veggies on hand to throw a handful into soups and such. ditto for the dehydrated pepper.

I've got home canned veg & meat. I've got commercially freeze dried items. I've got stuff stored in the freezer. For me, the home dehydration is a way to add a lot of vegetables and fruits to my storage inexpensively and without taking up much room.

Thank you Frugal Upstate ....I get a #10 can of mixed Red and Green peppers for $12 to $15 when I need to order as they are $22 now and the 'catch on sale' does work well in either storage method. As I often have time,I may start doing BOTH as the economy of either method sounds near equal and as one of my group members actually does a good bit of canning ,it may be a shared experience and a good way to help keep the BOL in a 'lived in' condition.

Skill building, clothing : went to a workshop on making undies, she had us start from very basics, measurements and pattern drafting and this took up most of our time, I generally work from ready made patterns when I sew or copy an existing garment. I have a working pair, 5 hours later. It is realy making a muslin, using existing excess fabric, but like alot of muslins, will find lots of wear and use as is, and provides new information for the next change of the paper pattern I made to get the next pair even better.

I "fixed" this $60 investment. 1972 model if I read the serial number chart correctly. Cables are #2. Ground is about 25 feet and the electrode lead is about 50 feet. They're not in the best shape, but they are useable. I first saw this machine a few weeks ago, but the owner didn't want to sell it at the time, having just gotten it and wanting to use it in their shop.

The folks I bought it from said it worked but "it was weak". Translation, at a given setting, it didn't have as much output power as it was supposed to. I brought it home, pulled the covers off, and began checking connections as well as the diodes. Everything checked out good(and it was correctly wired for 230v operation), so I was stumped. I decided that I needed to try welding with it to see if maybe the amperage indicator was off. Problem was that it had a plug on it that wouldn't fit any outlet here or anywhere else I know of, so I went ahead and bought a new 1050P plug. Before taking the old plug off, I checked to see how it was wired....and IT WAS WRONG. My guess is that the wall socket it had previously been connected to was wired wrong and instead of fixing the wiring to the socket they adapted the machine plug wiring. What should have been the neutral/ground pin was a 120v leg and one of the pins that should have been 120v was the neutral/ground. I'm pretty sure the people I bought it from had a correctly wired socket, and so the machine's transformer was only receiving 120v with the other 120v leg being directed to the machine frame. How they used it without getting electrocuted I don't know, but that would explain why "it was weak".

I plugged it in and the magic smoke didn't come out, so I turned it on. I got worried when it blew a cloud out, but then I realized it was blowing out some of that thick layer of dust inside(should have cleaned it when I had the covers off). Seemed like everything was ok, so time to burn some rods. Ran a couple of short test beads on AC mode before switching to DCEN.

I didn't bother trying to get the machine really dialed in for the rods, but it still laid pretty nice beads. Needed a little more amperage to compensate for the 40 degree temp today. Top is some 1/8" 7018 at around 125 amps, bead below that is some old, improperly stored 1/8" 11018 at the same setting.

This one is a 3/32" 6010 5p+ at around 90 amps. It looks rough from me knocking the slag off. Some machines won't run this rod. The high dollar Miller(bleh) at work won't keep 'em lit unless you crank amperage up so high that they work like cutting rods.

I "fixed" this $60 investment. 1972 model if I read the serial number chart correctly. Cables are #2. Ground is about 25 feet and the electrode lead is about 50 feet. They're not in the best shape, but they are useable. I first saw this machine a few weeks ago, but the owner didn't want to sell it at the time, having just gotten it and wanting to use it in their shop.

The folks I bought it from said it worked but "it was weak". Translation, at a given setting, it didn't have as much output power as it was supposed to. I brought it home, pulled the covers off, and began checking connections as well as the diodes. Everything checked out good(and it was correctly wired for 230v operation), so I was stumped. I decided that I needed to try welding with it to see if maybe the amperage indicator was off. Problem was that it had a plug on it that wouldn't fit any outlet here or anywhere else I know of, so I went ahead and bought a new 1050P plug. Before taking the old plug off, I checked to see how it was wired....and IT WAS WRONG. My guess is that the wall socket it had previously been connected to was wired wrong and instead of fixing the wiring to the socket they adapted the machine plug wiring. What should have been the neutral/ground pin was a 120v leg and one of the pins that should have been 120v was the neutral/ground. I'm pretty sure the people I bought it from had a correctly wired socket, and so the machine's transformer was only receiving 120v with the other 120v leg being directed to the machine frame. How they used it without getting electrocuted I don't know, but that would explain why "it was weak".

I plugged it in and the magic smoke didn't come out, so I turned it on. I got worried when it blew a cloud out, but then I realized it was blowing out some of that thick layer of dust inside(should have cleaned it when I had the covers off). Seemed like everything was ok, so time to burn some rods. Ran a couple of short test beads on AC mode before switching to DCEN.

I didn't bother trying to get the machine really dialed in for the rods, but it still laid pretty nice beads. Needed a little more amperage to compensate for the 40 degree temp today. Top is some 1/8" 7018 at around 125 amps, bead below that is some old, improperly stored 1/8" 11018 at the same setting.

This one is a 3/32" 6010 5p+ at around 90 amps. It looks rough from me knocking the slag off. Some machines won't run this rod. The high dollar Miller(bleh) at work won't keep 'em lit unless you crank amperage up so high that they work like cutting rods.

Sounds like it was a realy good find and a good deal. Also a good reminder to spend the time to realy check over these kinds of purchases, both for safety and for the easy fix you found !

I want to have more extra blankets, etc... here, but am on a budget. So, today I had my eldest who was visiting Portland go by Pendelton's Mill Store and buy quite a few pounds of blanket header fabric. I wont see it for a few months, but I know it is coming. Their cool colored strips sell out quickest, so the ones she got me are all the same color, white. The idea with the boring strips like this is to just sew them together, so each strip is 6-12 inches wide and it will be a white blanket with a striped effect. https://habit-of-art.blogspot.com/2012/03/making-blanket-from-pendelton-scraps.htmlWe are also, very slowly, in the midst of making a knit wool blanket. We are each knitting 6" squares when we have time out of the extra yarn leftover from other projects we have laying around. So far, about 4 squares are done. I dread the time they have to be put together. Our original idea was that if all 3 of us would make one a week, we could put it together within a year, but the reality is that we are not at that level of production. We invision something like this, when get actually get further along, I will make a thread https://www.kellyelko.com/fab-friday-finds-patchwork-perfection/http://motleycraft-o-rama.tumblr.com/post/126007376728

while my grandson was here for weekend, he decided to play video games so I got my material together to try to start sewing again. Had tendon release on two of my fingers this summer and it was my right hand. Needless to say I am right handed. haven't been able to do a lot of things I want and they said it would take about a year to heal. So I am going to try to get back into sewing again. I was making baby blankets and made blankets for the grandkids and my husband. Yes he thought he had to have one to. So I have made 9 twin bed blankets and one queen size. And a zillion baby blankets. I give them for baby showers and made several for bartering. Want to get back into making slacks and shirts as well as PJ's. Just hope my hand holds out.

while my grandson was here for weekend, he decided to play video games so I got my material together to try to start sewing again. Had tendon release on two of my fingers this summer and it was my right hand. Needless to say I am right handed. haven't been able to do a lot of things I want and they said it would take about a year to heal. So I am going to try to get back into sewing again. I was making baby blankets and made blankets for the grandkids and my husband. Yes he thought he had to have one to. So I have made 9 twin bed blankets and one queen size. And a zillion baby blankets. I give them for baby showers and made several for bartering. Want to get back into making slacks and shirts as well as PJ's. Just hope my hand holds out.

That's alot of blanket s! Hope you are able to keep up with your hands and sewing

I want to have more extra blankets, etc... here, but am on a budget. So, today I had my eldest who was visiting Portland go by Pendelton's Mill Store and buy quite a few pounds of blanket header fabric. I wont see it for a few months, but I know it is coming. Their cool colored strips sell out quickest, so the ones she got me are all the same color, white. The idea with the boring strips like this is to just sew them together, so each strip is 6-12 inches wide and it will be a white blanket with a striped effect. https://habit-of-art.blogspot.com/2012/03/making-blanket-from-pendelton-scraps.htmlWe are also, very slowly, in the midst of making a knit wool blanket. We are each knitting 6" squares when we have time out of the extra yarn leftover from other projects we have laying around. So far, about 4 squares are done. I dread the time they have to be put together. Our original idea was that if all 3 of us would make one a week, we could put it together within a year, but the reality is that we are not at that level of production. We invision something like this, when get actually get further along, I will make a thread https://www.kellyelko.com/fab-friday-finds-patchwork-perfection/http://motleycraft-o-rama.tumblr.com/post/126007376728

I so wish I wasn't allergic to wool. I often see great wool skirts, pants, and other mint condition clothing at my local thrift stores. It may be an option for fabric to make wool blankets out of.

I so wish I wasn't allergic to wool. I often see great wool skirts, pants, and other mint condition clothing at my local thrift stores. It may be an option for fabric to make wool blankets out of.

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Must be horrible to be allergic to it ! We almost never see great wool skirts at a thrift store out here anymore, we used to not that long ago, they presort it out to sell to up scale thrift stores or Etsy sellers. Yes, we have stores that have gathered the better used items and sell at a premium, a used wool or cashmere sweater for $20.

Must be horrible to be allergic to it ! We almost never see great wool skirts at a thrift store out here anymore, we used to not that long ago, they presort it out to sell to up scale thrift stores or Etsy sellers. Yes, we have stores that have gathered the better used items and sell at a premium, a used wool or cashmere sweater for $20.

I am lucky that there are lots of thrift stores near me and only one chain of them filters out the good stuff.

I went ice fishing on Saturday for the first time on a lake that I grew up on and caught several small walleyes. It was great for exercise, learning to deal with the cold (relatively mild but windy) and testing some gear. I now feel confident enough to invite some friends out for the next excursion.

Before departing the beach for my ice fishing foray, I chatted up a local who knows many of the people in the neighbourhood (including several family friends) and provided me much advice about the local regulations surrounding building in the are (our family has a residential lot just off the lake). So it was a good day for buidling networks, despite being a solo outing.

I miss ice fishing. Freaked me out the first time the guys lit a fire on the ice. I was pretty sure that we would sink or something.

After proclaiming to stay in bed all day to get better, that lasted until noonish. I did score a couple naps though. But we didn't have to leave the property all day, which was Bliss unto itself. I sorted out soup packages. 108 packages fit per 4 gallon bucket. I scored finding these on a closeout or salvage, saving myself hundreds of dollars. I bought probably way too much, but they have a far out expiration date, and I knew I would never see them like that again. LTS, lunches, backoacking meals. $0.17cents per package.

I got three more moving boxes unloaded, sorted, junked and put away. Got our "tiny house that isn't" more orderly. Living tiny means sweeping, vacuuming (if the generator is running) a few times a day, especially if you live in a clear-cut. It's never ending dirt/mud tracked in. Even with shoes taken off at the door/porch.

Seasoned the cast iron cookstove. It does cause "smoke" when the cookstove has a fire in it, but weirdly enough it doesn't make us cough if I use coconut oil, versus anything else. And both of us have a terrible head cold/bronchial thing, so it really surprised me it doesn't bother us.

Filled up the generator today to get the 12 volt batteries charged up for the week. If it gets too low, we have no fridge/freezer, or hot water. Also charged up the DVD player, my external batteries, and the cell phone all to 100%. Put out the 12 solar lights and 2 solar lanterns to charge.

Chopped two days of firewood with my new axe (I am pretty excited about it since I have been chopping oak with a small hatchet for three months). If I felt better I would have done more.

Sorted out our new pantry closet/amoire since we tossed Stuff in there in a hurry the other day.

lat week I made me my first "energy" bars.I melted Greek Halva (the dry kind, that is made with sesame seed pulp based), added chopped raisins, hazelnuts and thickened with oats. there is room for cinnamon or orange or raspberries. too

Thank you Mountainmomma. I am slower at pinning material for sewing but slow is better than nothing.

I have problems with my hands lately and I am doing my first English paper piercing quilt. I have found sewing clips to be so much easier to work with than pins. I still use pins when needed and I am loving the long glass head pins I got for Christmas but the clips are easier.

I have problems with my hands lately and I am doing my first English paper piercing quilt. I have found sewing clips to be so much easier to work with than pins. I still use pins when needed and I am loving the long glass head pins I got for Christmas but the clips are easier.

I have seen those clips but never bought any because I never knew of anyone that tried them. Maybe after seeing your post about how much easier they are I will get some to try out.Thank you for that info. It really helps.AJ

Did some reorg & restocking in the stockroom last week. It’s been driving me crazy that when the teens are sent downstairs with extremely specific directions on where something is they “can’t find it” and then I go and it is exactly Where I said...I also put the labels under the outflow of the can rotator rack since they keep taking the newest stuff from the top.

Replaced items we have used from the storeroom plus added more beans to the 2-part bean bucket. One side is now overflowing due to me not remembering how much was in there.Got started on the pantry rebuild